Moving extremely heavy loads has generally been a complicated task because of the large forces involved in lifting and transporting the heavy loads. In known mounting structures, large loads may be transported by disassembling or breaking up the load or the mounting structure into multiple smaller sections and/or loads. However, this break-down and subsequent reassembly process can be very time consuming, especially when a heavy load is only to be moved a small distance, or needs to be repositioned.
For heavy loads that need periodic movement or adjustment, devices commonly referred to as “walking machines” or “walkers” were developed. These machines may be configured to move the heavy loads over small distances in incremental stages. For example, walking machines may be used to move large structures, such as oil rigs, in order to position them over pre-drilled pipes in oil fields.
The inclusion of a walking system to a mounting structure may involve additional support structures or connections in order to transfer the weight of the mounting structure and/or load to the walking system. The support structures and/or connections may require additional time for assembly and/or disassembly during various operations associated with the mounting structure, such as operations associated with storage and/or transportation of the mounting structure over relatively large distances.
The present invention addresses these and other problems.